The True Power of Lookalike Targeting

It is difficult to overstatehow transformative the introduction of data-driven processes has been to marketing efforts. Companies that once struggled to identify, locate, and attract their target audience are now able to make decisions using objective and empirical insights rather than assumptions and intuitions.

One of the areas where advancement is most pronounced is in the area of lookalike targeting. For the uninitiated, this is a form of ad targeting where an existing or anticipated user base is analyzed to determine demographics, interests, online activities etc. Then users with similar (lookalike) profiles are targeted with the same ads.

The benefits of this type of targeting are obvious, but they are also more extensive than many marketers realize; and more accessible too! Learn about the true power of lookalike targeting, and consider what kind of impact this approach would have on your next campaign.

Understand Present and Future Customers

Lookalike targeting is a valuable endeavor, even if it takes you awhile to warm up to the concept. To identify high value prospects, you must understand the ones you already have or the ones you most hope to target. Treating that process seriously often reveals features about your core customers that are not immediately obvious. Once the most accurate profile possible has been identified it’s easier to optimize all areas of marketing. It’s also easier to use what is known about some customers to then extrapolate what is unknown about others.

Expedite the Advertising Effort

Marketing campaigns can get bogged down by trying to understand where, when, why, and how to place ads. Fortunately, this is not the case for programmatic mobile marketing. With the proper platform, mobile ads are delivered automatically — and to the audience most likely to engage with your app.

In a way, lookalike targeting largely eliminates the difficult questions so that campaigns can move forward in less time with less effort. Since decisions are based on a demonstrated record of success, there is a lot less uncertainty about whether that decision is the right or wrong one. Every choice leads logically from the previous one, giving a campaign coordination and cohesion that would be absent otherwise.

Engineer a Healthier ROI

By now it should be clear that lookalike targeting is fundamentally a way to do more with less. Companies put less time, energy, and investment into their marketing campaigns. Yet they achieve better results on shorter timelines and smaller budgets. Reliably achieving the right ROI is a notorious challenge in marketing, but the efficiency and productivity gains promised by lookalike targeting add a lot of confidence and certainty. Plus, CPA advertising is much more effective when you’re able to identify users likely to engage in high-value events.

Form a Meaningful Connection with Users

Like all the best marketing enhancements, lookalike targeting benefits both the marketer and the audience for the marketing message. We have reached a point when consumers expect the marketing messages they see to be as relevant as possible. Who wants to waste time with a diaper advertisement if they have no kids? Lookalike targeting is a way to get ads in front of the most important audience, and to ensure that everyone who sees that ad appreciates the exposure. When an ad presents a product or service that is uniquely able to meet a user’s wants or needs they are more likely to convert immediately and develop a long-term relationship with the brand.

Social media platforms have made lookalike targeting incredibly easy to leverage. And since the platform is a gold mine for data, lookalike targeting is also highly effective. Profiles are not limited to a few features but rather incorporate hundreds of different demographic details. That means with relatively little elbowgrease, marketers are able to run laser-focused ad campaigns where every dollar spent, and every ad placed has maximum impact. Can you afford to overlook the lookalikes?